Day 58 (July 13): Winnett to Sand Springs, MT

Mileage: 45.6; 1,499 total

This wasn't a very long ride, but the terrain in Eastern Montana is 0ne of rolling hills, one after the other, and so 45 miles turned out to be a reasonably hard day. I was glad to find a shady area at a rest stop along the highway, and napped for about 1.5 hours on a picnic table during the early afternoon.

Sand Springs consists of a building that houses a Post Office, a General Store and restaurant, and a gas station; with a small house next door. Everything was closed on Sunday, the day I arrived. The information on my bicycle map indicated that camping was allowed behind the store, so I knocked on the door of the house to enquire, and an elderly lady said that I was welcome to pitch my tent behind the store, and she explained that she didn't charge anything because she was happy to help out bicyclists. There was a men's room attached to the building, and a water faucet, so I had everything I needed.

I fixed a meal of Hormel Chile w/Beans and boiled rice (eat your heart out, Dana F.).

The sun doesn't set until about 10 PM, and it stays fairly hot until about 9 PM, so I was sitting in a chair in the shade in front of the store in the late evening when Mike, the bicyclist whom I had met in Great Falls, pulled in. He camped there, also.

The woman who ran the place had told me that she would open the General Store and restaurant at about 8 AM, but that she didn't serve breakfast (she only served pre-made sandwiches and microwaved pizza). So I got to cook for myself again, and had oatmeal. Meanwhile, as Mike and I were packing up at a about 8 AM another bicyclist, Phil from Wisconsin, pulled in for a few minutes. He had spent the night at the rest stop, where I had taken a nap the previous day. But he left shortly, and then Mike left, and then I left about one hour later. Mike and I were planning on just a short ride over to Jordan, but Phil was expecting to continue further.